Deadly dance
by Rayneken
Summary: He wouldn't, he couldn't, his vow... But dang it was Saitoh! The Saitoh fight from four different points of view.
1. Kaoru

Disclaimer: I do not own RK

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A deadly dance in a macabre light. A tornado of twisting colors, red, black, and gold. White hot tears, freezing, burn down her skin as she watches their terrifying dance. For that was what it was, a dance.

Turning, whirling, their blades accompanying them with a deadly, almost silent, song. He turns, they meet, and off they go again. Looking, always looking, for their chance to strike. Their narrow golden eyes simmer with hatred and the heat of a long awaited battle, the thrill of first blood, as they parry, strike, parry, _hit_...

It was ridiculously pretty, the spray of the blood, two different shades of it, as it flew upward as they came together once again. Blood rained, they screamed, she screamed, it was all happening so fast! A belt, a jacket, a choking noise, and the sound of metal cracking into a jaw, and then–

–and then all was silent.

She reached, she tried, tried so hard, to grasp him, to hold him back, but he slipped through her fingers...

And she screamed.

"_Kenshin!_"

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Author's notes: So I was watching/ reading the Saitoh fight and this was born. So hit the button

and tell me if I'm a loser or not! (I'd appreciate non-loser comments)


	2. Kenshin

Disclaimer: I do not own RK.

Special thanks: To my amazing sister who doubles as my awesome beta, and the reviewers.

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He wouldn't, he _couldn't_, his vow...

But dang it was _Saitoh_...

Pain in his side from the sudden Gatotsu, the kick that had thrown him into the wall, it hurt. It hurt, but _losing_... to _Saitoh_...

He wouldn't lose. Not to him. Never.

His breathing slowed, and he felt the heavy weight of hair on his back shift in the evening breeze as he stood.

He would not lose.

Saitoh wasn't expecting him to move so quickly, and Kenshin watched as his katana hit his neck and he flew into the wall. Saitoh had underestimated him. Who was the one going soft?

"However strong Gatotsu may be, when it's shown four times in a few minutes... any idiot can come up with a way to counter it."

He wanted to _win_.

He almost smiled. The thrill... he'd forgotten it. He'd forgotten this feeling, or it had at least dimmed in his memories.

_This feeling, so sweet._

He could not take it to Jineh's madness, his craving, but still...

The _thrill_... He'd always loved fighting, and fighting the Wolf... Winning, finally, against him...

What greater pleasure, greater thrill, than that? The last of the revolution...

"Get up, Saitoh. A ten year duel can't end this quietly."

He would win. He would finally _kill _him...

Saitoh was rising. His voice as manic as it had always been as he hissed, "Huh... huh-huh... My orders are to evaluate your strength. But I don't care about them now. I will now kill you."

Orders? From Shinsengumi headquarters no doubt.

_There aren't any headquarters any–_

That was just fine. It was never going to happen. Because...

"Quit posing. You know _I'm_ the one who will kill you." Kenshin hissed back. He'd missed the banter.

He moved. Reading Saitoh, knowing the path the blade, of his own blade, he would win!

Saitoh's sword landed across the dojo, _near Ya–, _and Kenshin's lips twisted. He'd missed.

It didn't matter. Next time, next time–

"Next, I'll make your head fly," he promised.

Saitoh was going for Gatotsu again. Fool.

"The Shinsengumi never did know when to withdraw."

He_ had_ him.

"First rule of the Shinsengumi, live and die like a samurai!"

Death then.

His hands hurt from the blade and then the belt.

"I have you!"

He couldn't breath–!

"This... is the end!"

Not a chance. He would never lose to a dog.

He still had his... saya...

"It's useless! Accept your fate!"

His _only_ fate, his _only_ destiny, _was to win_!

He smirked as he heard the sound of Saitoh's head flung backward. No blood? That was no good. He wanted Saitoh to _bleed_...

He landed, he would have the advantage now. Saitoh only had his fists left...

"Shall we... finish this soon?" Saitoh suggested.

Finish it? Only Saitoh's death would finish this...

"Why not?"

He charged.

He would win.

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Author's notes: So I was thinking, everybody always gets so caught up in the guilt issues and etc. that they forget that Kenshin loves the sword and loves fighting. I kind of tried to use this fic to show that. (Don't get me wrong that wasn't my original intention. I just started writing and it turned out that way.) Please review!


	3. Saitoh

Disclaimer: I do not own RK

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Finally!

Finally, finally he could finish this fight! He could kill Battosai! He, Saitoh Hajime, the last of the Shinsengumi, could finally dispose of the greatest of all _patriots_.

How quaint.

Battosai was finally back--

Red flew in his vision, and he could finally _see_!

Pain crowded his senses, and he could finally _feel_!

No more government dog, no more peaceful Meiji, death!

A death to evil, a death to the last and best, a death to this endless so-called peace!

Death to Battosai, his greatest rival!

Death to it all.

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Author's notes: Don't you always love it when these end on such cheerful notes? I was kinda trying to show how much losing the war had affected Saitoh, tell me how it turned out. Tell me what you think!


	4. Yahiko

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin

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Kenshin was against the wall, breathing hard, blood running down his face from Saitoh's Gatotsu and kicks, and I could barely think. A never ending stream, one river of flowing words, was all that had my mind.

I'm horrible.

Saitoh had been there the whole time, and I hadn't done anything! I had let him in, asking nothing, and now Kenshin could die!

Worse...

For the first few moments after the revelation, all I could think of...

What could I have learned from a _captain_ of the _Shinsengumi_?

Even now, with Kenshin bleeding and completely helpless against the Gatotsu, all I could think about...

What can I learn now? Watching them?

Watching them... watching Kenshin _die_...

All I could do was watch. Always watching. I couldn't even help Kaoru... Kaoru, my master, and I couldn't do anything besides watch. Watch, in fear, in _awe_...

Watching...

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Author's notes: Press the button!


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